I’m not a mechanic so please bear with my poor terminology.

my disco has begun making a clunk when shifting from r to d, d to r and occasionally when giving it a lot of gas to getup a hill or pass.

I believe this is a driveshaft issue due to some forum threads I have read. And a friend looked under the vehicle when I shifted, he said it appeared to be a large black drum in the middle of the driveshaft.
Is this drum the carrier bearing?


Carrier bearing?


The center shaft joint at the rear of the vehicle has a rubber connection that has begun deteriorating but does not seem like trash yet.


Deteriorating rubber connection. Could this be the clunk?



the front shaft, where it connects to a large engine component(transmission?) appears to have sheared off at one connection, I can just barely see fresh metal, I assume I shouldn’t be able to with a 20 yr old vehicle


All other similar driveshaft connections are clearly connected. This one appears to have sheared off but only at this one place. It can be seen approx one inch southeast of the bolt in the pic. This seems like it could be my problem

Any advice appreciated. I feel like I should replace the front shaft to repair the sheared connection. Am I wrong?

 

DON’T DRIVE IT!!!!!!! That’s your front driveshaft and if it fails, it will do so in the most dramatic of fashions.

The good news is that it looks to have been replaced before and you will simply need to put in a replacement U join (or have it done) as the OEM front driveshaft is non serviceable. That U joint looks to be wasted if I’m seeing correctly. When you get a new one (I’d replace all of them in the front shaft) you should be greasing them with a grease gun (or having it done) at every oil change. That pokey thing from the U joint is called a zerk fitting and a grease gun connects to it and keeps the needle bearings in the U joint lubed up.

Other questions:
- That “drum” is the parking brake
- The rubber thing with cracks in it is the flex disc. Yours needs to be replaced

 

Advice given is spot on. Front driveshaft (propshaft) is priority, it will knock out chunks of metal from the surrounding area if it fails and flails about. $$$

Rear rubber donut should be replaced with signs of tearing, but far less critical than front. Avoid "cheap" replacements, they don't last very long. You can keep the current one as a backup to get you home, if you don't buy a new backup.

Parking/emergency brake, when applied, literally grabs the rear driveshaft to stop rotation. Typically not anything to be concerned about.

 

Thank you both for your insight. I just ordered a new front driveshaft. The current ujoints appear to be welded on. Are you sure I can just replace them?

 

I just crawled under again and it does look like I can replace the malfunctioning joint instead of the entire shaft. I’ll shop for one now. Thanks again

 

If you decide to replace the u-joints yourself, do yourself a favor and buy or rent a u-joint press like this one. You will save a few bucks from the swear jar.

 

Definitely replace that guibo. Mine does the exact same thing yours is doing except mine is coming from the rear. I also have a vibration issue whenever it goes over 75mph. Ive pinpointed them to be that coupling due to the heavy deterioration on it. Ive currently got mine on order and am waiting for it to arrive.